This post originally appeared in January. It is being republished today due to Dr Ali Ghorbani’s Startup Canada Award Senior Entrepreneur Award win last Thursday.
The Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, an innovative hub for research, training and industry collaboration, opens at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) today with more than $4.5 million in funding and the establishment of a research partnership with global technology firm IBM.
Aiming to further transform its economic landscape toward a knowledge-based economy, New Brunswick continues its strategic focus on innovation in cybersecurity. This new Institute will train highly skilled cybersecurity professionals and provide leading-edge research into one of the most pressing issues facing governments and private companies across the globe.
“This alignment of our educational resources with workforce development and the world-class industry cluster already established in New Brunswick further solidifies the province’s position as the cybersecurity epicentre for Canada.” notes Stephen Lund, CEO of Opportunities NB (ONB).
“IBM is proud to be the institute’s first R&D partner and to help New Brunswick build towards a knowledge-based economy. The demand for highly skilled cybersecurity professionals is one of the biggest challenges to overcome in the industry today, and it’s only expected to grow. Together, we are taking an active role in solving the existing skills gap in the province’s cybersecurity space, driving awareness to attract new talent and partnering with educators to provide next-generation training tools.” said Sandy Bird, CTO of IBM Security.
Dr Ali Ghorbani, Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity at UNB and former Dean of the university’s Faculty of Computer Science, will serve as director of the Institute. We spoke to Dr Ghorbani recently about the Institute, New Brunswick’s leadership in cybersecurity, and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2WGWQk9sgU&feature=youtu.be
New Brunswick is executing a deliberate action plan to build upon our world-class industry cluster and enhance workforce development, education and cybersecurity research. Learn more at CyberNB.ca.
Written by Heather MacLean